Özet:

The recognition of folklore as a discipline in Türkiye, as in the whole world, first brought with it the question of "who the folk are" and the efforts to define it. Since the 19th century, while the social groups that make up the nation were defined as the folk, the general acceptance and tendency that the people were physically in the villages, folklorists addressed the villages as the main field of study. In the history of Turkish folklore, the concept “folk” has been defined by many researchers. This study, for which most of the main reference sources related to proverbs are scanned, focuses on the Turkish proverbs in Anatolia, in which the words village/peasant and city/urban dweller are mentioned. Based on the examples identified, the main purpose of the article is to show how the folk is defined in the oral memory through the two basic dynamics of "peasant" and "urban dweller" identities. Opportunities, physical conditions and social, cultural and economic relations in villages and cities inevitably affect social roles, responsibilities and identities. It is important to identify the perception of peasant and urban dweller in proverbs, as proverbs are the products of the experience of the people, being wisely produced and articulated as concise expressions. In this respect, questions such as how village and peasant, city and urban dweller are defined, how the relationship between peasants and urban dwellers is emphasized in a positive or negative sense, which one is quantitatively more visible in proverbs and to what extent the peasant and the urban dweller meet within the framework of the definition of folk have been answered. As a result of the study, the following conclusions were reached: As a result of the study, it is seen that the village stands out clearly compared to the city as a physical, metaphorical or representative place in proverbs. It is understood that the perception of village is diverse with its positive, negative and neutral features. It is identified that the proverbs reflect the research topics of folklore and the close relationship between the codes of Turkish culture and the village. On the other hand, the few proverbs which include the word "city" show that the city is hierarchically positioned higher than the village in oral memory with its quality of life and order. And the word "peasant" is frequently used in proverbs that refer to ignorance, lack of discipline or understanding, openness to manipulation, low social status, dishonesty and distrust. It is understood that the word is frequently used to express the negativities or deficiencies in people's character, identity, attitude and worldview. It should be noted that this view also coincides with the focus on village in folklore research in the 19th century and how the term “folk” was defined.

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